Equity during peer conferences: A linguistic comparison by race and gender

Abstract

This paper provides an analysis of students’ peer assessment conversations in introductory college calculus. Prior research shows that this type of activity can support meaningful student learning. However, previous studies have suggested that students from different groups (e.g., by race or gender) may have different opportunities to participate in such discussion-based activities. Accordingly, this paper explores the participation of students in peer assessment conversations, by focusing on the types of feedback and word choices used by different groups of students, by race and gender. Based on computer-aided textual analysis, this paper provides insights into the types of words used by different students in the class. While there was evidence of inequities in participation between men and women, the results for race were inconclusive. These results suggest that peer conferences have some potential for producing more equitable participation in calculus.